2009 has been a year of significant political upheaval and if the Irish Public has their way, this shows no signs of stopping. The beginning of this year’s social unrest occurred last February 22
nd when over 100,000 Irish citizens marched in protest of the Government’s handling of the financial crisis. It was the largest anti-government demonstration since the early 1980s, when tens of thousands of workers took to the streets protesting against the country’s tax system.
This year over 70,000 marched in Dublin in a massive display of anti-government anger. Cork had over 15,000 marching, Waterford 10,000, Galway 5,000, Limerick 5,000 Tullamore 4,000, Sligo 5,000, and Dundalk 1,500. Hundreds attended rallies in several places in the north too. The ICTU organized rallies in Belfast, Derry, Newry and seven other towns. The focus of anger there was the cuts in public spending and the need for more jobs in all sectors of the economy.
The government is planning a further €4 billion cut to public expenditure in the December Budget which will involve 1.3 billion cuts to public sector pay. That’s a pay cut of around 6
.5 per cent. So what is the Irish Public sector to do now? Surely it is aware that our Government is trying to pitch them against the Private Sector? Hoping to divert attention away from the crisis they have found themselves in by playing a game of divide and conquer. This proved unsuccessful on November 24th as the Public Sector pulled out all the stops; a one day strike was held across the country in which the majority of the country’s 300,000 Public Sector workers picketed their places of work.
Of course there was much issue surrounding the strike, in particular that of the disruption which would be caused. In fact IBEC even came out as saying that the strike; “would not create a single job nor make any existing job more secure”. So is that really the issue at play here? Surely the issue is that public sector pay workers can’t be expected to take further pay cuts? Why should the people of this country not rally together and show the Government (and the rest of the world for that matter) that we are no longer prepared to be taken for a ride? It is high time that we started getting embarrassed by the state of our appalling government and actually did something about it.
As much support as there was for the strike, typically there were the inevitable nay-sayers labelling it; ‘farcical’, ‘morally wrong’ and an ‘attempt to hold our Government to ransom’. How exactly is it ever ‘morally wrong’ to defend one’s right to a decent wage? I must be hearing incorrectly when they say that a strike is ‘morally wrong’, yet it is acceptable for our politicians to continue living their utterly hedonistic lifestyle. These protesters were not just striking for themselves but rather for their fellow countrymen and women. That was patriotism, all of our country rallying together against what seems like an imposter, ‘foreign’ Government who are more interested in bank bail-outs than looking after ordinary citizens. Surely if they were patriotic and the true leaders they attest to be, they should lead by example and take pay cuts themselves? Yet I digress, as always we are aware unfortunately of what this country has allowed itself to become; a nation where cronyism rules.
Ours is a Government which would rather see the rich restored to their ‘rightful’ place at the top of the hierarchy, whilst the less well off remain the underdogs, whimpering away until someone throws them a scrap. Being reduced to this base level has taken its toll, and as far as the strike goes it seems these dogs have
been let starve far too long. A government as set in its ways as ours has only one outcome; failure. And I would go as far as to say that seeing this government fail might not be such a bad thing.
